Archive for success
Secrets of Meal Frequency
Posted by: | CommentsDid you know that the timing of your meals is one of the most important nutrition secrets for successful weight loss and
maintenance? Unfortunately with our hectic lifestyles and schedules it can be very difficult to sticking with 3 meals a day never mind 6 small meals or 3 meals with several snacks interspersed! Once I explain why researchers have found eating more often improves weight loss – you may decide to make an extra effort to eat more often. Now, eating more often doesn’t mean increasing the amount that you eat, it means taking the calories that you would normally consume in a day and spreading them out throughout the day.
- It is believed that by spacing 3 large meals in one day, you allow your body to enter the starvation mode. When this happens your body tries to conserve as much energy as it can until the next meal because it assumes that the meal may not come. In the starvation mode your body reduces metabolism and conserves as much fat as possible to increase your chance of survival. The solution is to eat more often by dividing 3 large meals into 6 smaller ones. Many of us do this by having 3 main meals and several small snacks in between.
- By spreading your calories throughout the day you will prevent low energy and mood, and ward off hunger pangs because you will be supplying your body with enough fuel to function throughout the day. Meal frequency regulates blood sugar levels and that eases hunger. You will also be less likely to overeat at the next meal and that will help to prevent weight gain.
- By eating more often throughout the day your metabolic rate will also be faster since your body’s digestive functions are more active. Each time you eat your body’s temperature is raised slightly which, in turn, raises your metabolism. We call that “TEF” or the “thermal effect of food.” With your metabolism staying higher you will be in a state of burning fat throughout the day.
- Protein from the food you consume has nitrogen and nitrogen maintains your muscle. To maintain positive nitrogen balance throughout the day you need to consume some protein every 3-4 hours. If we lose muscle we will burn fewer calories during the day and I know that is what we are all trying to avoid.
The ability to lose weight is under YOUR control and I hope that I have inspired some of you to eat something every few hours so please don’t skip meals –especially breakfast!
Building Your Self-Esteem
Posted by: | CommentsWhile many people lose weight in order to improve their health and live more active lives, just as many of us are motivated by hopes of improving their self image. People who are overweight, even those working steadily toward their weight loss goals, can be burdened by negative messages from others or from themselves. There is nothing wrong with us trying to look our best, yet it is important for us to learn to appreciate ourselves in our current shape.
As you continue on your weight loss journey, don’t miss opportunities to learn about yourself and build up your self-esteem.
- Focus on the positive. Significant weight loss won’t happen overnight, so don’t put yourself down if you don’t see results as quickly as you like. Instead, emphasize the small victories you experience along the way. Losing weight takes effort and discipline, and you should feel proud of the hard work you have been putting forth.
- Don’t be afraid to have fun while exercising. While working out is an integral part of losing weight, it can also serve as a chance to discover new activities you enjoy.
- Don’t compare yourself to media images. Concentrate on your own unique qualities rather than the perceptions delivered through magazines, movies and television.
- Surround yourself with supportive voices. Seek advice and encouragement from those who are close to you. It can be especially helpful to find friends who are working to lose weight as well.
Self-Discovery and Self-Acceptance
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Painful emotions can prevent us from being successful with our weight loss attempts. Understanding those emotions and working through them can transform our lives in many ways but we have to be willing to learn and improve ourselves. A gentleman called Jim Rohn stated, “I used to say, ‘I sure hope things will change’. Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change”. We should all think of ourselves as a work in progress. If whatever you are doing isn’t working for you then you must be flexible enough to change your plan of action.
Christopher Westera has written a wonderful article called “The Eight Emotional Transformation Recipe”. He suggests that by following his 8 steps you will have greater clarity and an increase in consciousness that will help you to let go of painful emotions and give you the spirit of openness and acceptance:
- Accept full responsibility for the emotion even if you don’t fully believe it right now you need to tell yourself, “I create my reality, and I am creating this emotion right now”.
- Name the emotion by positively identifying feelings such as disappointment, shame, anxiety etc. This will increase your awareness, clarity and consciousness.
- Let go of the story – The story is whatever is outside yourself that caused the emotion.
- Bless the emotion by accepting it as a necessary learning step in order to move on to the next step.
- Feel the emotion physically in your body without judging or resistance. Christopher Westera states that what you resist persists and that you need to become a kind of observer of your own processes.
- Ask for clarity - In order to grow you need to ask yourself, “What do I need to learn from this emotion” and “What effective belief do I own that created this emotion?”
- Identify the belief – At the root of nearly every painful emotion there is an ineffective belief. For example, you may believe that you must make everyone happy, or that you can’t be loved if you are not perfect or you believe that you are simply not worth it.
- Replace the belief – Replace the belief with a more effective belief by telling yourself that you choose to reject the ineffective belief and that you are replacing it with an empowering belief.
By following theses 8 steps, changes will occur that will lead you to self-acceptance and in turn greater success in your weight loss efforts.
George Eliot has a wonderful quote that states, “It is never too late to be what you might have been”.
How to Set Weight Loss Goals
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Setting realistic goals – including weight, exercise, food and psychological goals – before you begin a weight loss plan is essential to a successful program.
Step1
Begin by setting some small daily goals. Your weight goal might be to lose 1 pound per week. If you hardly exercised in the past, you might want to walk around your neighborhood for 20 minutes every day. (If you like, split it into a 10-minute walk in the morning and another in the evening.) Your nutritional goal may be to reduce your fat intake. Your psychological goal may be to write in a journal every day.
Step2
Establish intermediate goals that are a little more ambitious than your original goals. For instance, two weeks after you begin to meet your daily 20-minute walk goal, extend your goal to a daily 1-hour walk; start eating smaller portions at every meal; and seek counseling for any self-esteem issues you might have.
Step3
Determine big-picture goals; this includes the total amount of weight you’d like to lose by the end of your program. Make a commitment to jog or run every day to maintain your weight and health; learn how you can shop, cook and eat as nutritiously as possible; and take up an activity that you think you have a knack for – this can keep up your self-esteem.
Step4
Set time frames for your daily, intermediate and big-picture goals. As you progress from one to the next, reward yourself. Go shopping, get a facial, take a weekend trip. You deserve it!
Full Story at eHow.com
Setting Realistic Goals
Posted by: | CommentsHow many times have you set a New Year’s resolution for weight loss that falls apart within a few months? You start 
out with the best of intentions with goals that sound great at the time. Chances are your goals were unrealistic and just didn’t fit into your lifestyle. And as the saying goes, “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you are going to get the same results”.
Take small steps to implement your goals and ask yourself:
- Are you willing to make the changes necessary to reach your goal? If you are starting a weight loss or exercise program you need to ask yourself if you are taking on something that you can do for the rest of your life. If not, you may not be ready to make the changes needed for long-term success.
- What is it that you really want and are you willing to work towards your goals with commitment, time and persistence?
- Are your goals your own? They shouldn’t be your friends, family members, neighbors etc. It is really important to set goals that are yours alone and nobody else’s.
Goals need to be practical and not overwhelming because the only way you will achieve them is through implementation. If you want to save yourself a lot of aggravation, your goals need to be both attainable and realistic. Setting unrealistic goals is the main reason why crash diets and exercise programs fail. However, goals do need to be just challenging enough to keep you motivated and keep in mind that goals continue to change as you progress which means that you will need to readjust them as you move forward.
Once you have determined your specific goals you will feel empowered by taking small steps towards achieving them. By being specific you will be able to prioritize and stay motivated. Which goals are you the most passionate about?
Are you enthusiastic about your goals? It will be much easier to achieve your goals if their possibilities get you excited. If they don’t, you may want to re-evaluate the goals that you’ve selected.
Finally, setting a date is important as it will help prevent procrastination and give you encouragement.
Successful Journaling
Posted by: | CommentsWorking toward weight loss is a conscious lifestyle decision; therefore the steps we take to lose weight must be carried out on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, incorporating these weight loss measures into our daily lives is not always easy. We count calories to maintain a healthy diet, but the numbers and facts can get mixed up with all of the other information we process throughout the day. It’s also easy to forget the next step you would like to take in your fitness schedule (for example, you may be gradually increasing the weight you lift when exercising). On top of these issues, it can be difficult to notice the progress you are making over the course of time. These are some of the reasons why keeping a weight loss journal is so important.
Your weight loss journal can be kept the same way as any journal—you can use a diary, a notebook or even a blog. One approach you can take is to plan your meals and fitness activities throughout the week and keep track of them as the days move forward. It is also helpful to include information related to your progress including how many pounds and inches you have lost. If you feel comfortable enough, include photographs of yourself as your weight loss continues. As time goes by, your journal can help you notice trends in your weight loss, which choices help you and which choices cause you to backtrack.
Your journal does not have to be merely a collection of facts, however. The path toward a healthier weight can affect us emotionally in positive and negative ways. Feel free to write about the goals you hope to reach through diet and exercise, how it feels to reach those goals and how it feels when you fall short. Journaling has been shown to relieve stress and will help you release some of the negativity you may experience.
For both practical and emotional reasons, journaling can be a valuable routine to adopt while working to lose weight. Keep in mind that you can write whatever you want as long as it is helps you along on your journey and keeps you accountable to your goals.
Get on the right track and let us help you with your weight loss goals. Contact us today!
The Importance of Journaling
Posted by: | CommentsThe Importance of Journaling
- Simply put….a food journal will help you recognize why you eat the foods that you do and give you a means to analyze the nutrient content of your diet. Listing everything you eat helps you take a critical look at your eating habits.
- Don’t rely on memory: write down everything as you eat it. If that’s not possible, write down what you ate at end of the day otherwise, plan your day and write down everything ahead of time.
- Keep your journal for at least 3 days of the week: I recommend 2 week days and 1 weekend day. Weekends are difficult for some people. They will actually sabotage all of their week’s effort in those 2 days.
- Let’s talk about the success rate of keeping a journal…..people who keep a journal lose twice as much weight and did you know that 90% of people that journal have long term weight loss success?
Now, how do we keep a food journal?
Start by trying to record what you eat and drink each day:
- Start by writing down the day of the week.
- Document all the food you eat and its portion size. Be specific, some of us underestimate how much we’re really consuming. I hate to tell you this but every nibble counts, yes, that also means taste-testing as you’re cooking too!
- Write down the time and place you eat it. What were you doing while you were eating? Were you driving or sitting on the sofa watching TV?
- Write down your fluid intake and how you feel physically. Are you tired or energetic and do you notice a correlation between your energy level and food consumption? On a scale of 1-10 how hungry are you before you eat? Do you notice any association with your hunger level and food consumption?
- Document how you feel emotionally. Are you angry, sad, nervous, bored or excited? Some people eat more when they are upset and less when they are excited. At the end of each day, examine how your emotions affected your eating.
- Finally, document the amount and type of exercise or activity you perform. You will notice that the more you move the faster you lose.
- A journal is a great record of successful days and weeks. Use your journal as a reference tool and copy successful days when you find yourself “slipping”.
- Be honest. Remember, it’s a journal not a newsletter.
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Basic Tips for Losing Weight
Posted by: | CommentsBy making just a few changes you can really make a difference in your weight loss success. Hopefully, you are already doing some of the things that I’m going to suggest.
- Drink water
It may sound strange but drinking more water can reduce bloating if your body is holding onto water. Your body cannot tell the difference between hunger and thirst so make sure you are keeping yourself well hydrated. Replacing regular soft drinks with water can save you hundreds of calories. Some people have lost a lot of weight just by swapping out water for regular soda.
- Don’t skip meals
Many people struggling with their weight feel that by skipping meals they are eating less and therefore will lose weight. Wrong! You are much more likely to overeat later in the day and you may find that when you do start to eat, you just can’t stop.
- Eat healthful snacks
Snacking can help maintain blood sugar that will help prevent overeating. A protein supplement or foods such as almonds and cheese sticks will be satisfying and help you to lose weight as long as portion size is controlled.
- Select whole grains when choosing carbohydrates
Whole grains have more fiber and therefore keep you fuller longer. A few years ago Readers Digest printed a study where they found that foods containing fiber kept you fuller up to four times longer than foods without fiber. Fiber also helps to prevent constipation and can reduce your risk for disease.
- Measure your food
I know that this is not a favorable request because it takes effort. Most people underestimate how much they are really eating and once you know what a serving of a particular food looks like, it will always be the same. Buy yourself a small food scale and some measuring cups and spoons. They are not expensive but a great investment for weight loss success.
- Read food labels
Learning to read food labels will help you to compare foods with their nutritional content and calories per serving. You may be surprised at what you discover.
- Journal
Writing down what you eat is essential for long term weight loss success. It will give you an awareness of you current eating habits so that you can make the necessary changes.
- Get active
Exercising boosts your metabolism which helps you to lose weight more easily and it is exceptionally important for weight maintenance.
You may find that just by adding one or more of these tips into your daily routine, you can transform your body. Small changes can lead to lasting results. Contact us to see how we can help you achieve success this time!
Follow Dani’s Journey to Lose 45 Pounds in 6 Months
Posted by: | CommentsDani is like so many of us. She has struggled with her weight for a number of years. Follow along as she shares her journey towards long term weight loss success through the 6 month weight loss program at the Center for Metabolic Health which includes comprehensive education through their exclusive Weight Management University. You can follow Dani’s journey on the CMH blog!
Ask the experts – Realistic Advice for Weight Loss Success
Posted by: | CommentsWeight loss doesn’t have to be difficult and frustrating. Let Dr. Thomas W. Clark and the weight loss experts at CMH help you overcome your barriers to weight loss success so you can incorporate easy to follow information into your every day life and live the healthy life you desire.
We welcome your questions/comments and will respond as soon as possible to get you the help you need. Log in and ask away…helping people lose weight is our passion and we are here to help!
Did know that there may be underlying causes preventing you from successful weight loss? Learn more by visiting www.cmhva.com
At CMH, Our Mission is…to create a community of motivated people who understand how to successfully manage their weight for life.
